Closing Bell: Sensex, Nifty end at fresh lifetime highs; continue winning streak for 6 sessions

The frontline indices – Sensex and Nifty – ended at fresh lifetime peaks on Tuesday amid a largely firm trend in Asian markets and continuous foreign fund inflows. The former gained 177.04 points or 0.28 per cent at 62,681.84 and Nifty grew 55.30 points or 0.30 per cent to end at 18,618.05. 

The broader markets underperformed the benchmarks as both mid and small-cap ended in the red by around 0.5 per cent, while the Nifty Bank closed flat with a positive bias today. 

Among the Sensex pack, Hindustan Unilever, Sun Pharma, Nestle, Dr Reddy's, Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, Titan and HCL Technologies were the major winners. Conversely, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Maruti, Power Grid and Larsen & Toubro were among the major laggards. 

Sectors that did well include FMCG, where the market is now pricing in lower pressure on gross margins as packaging and agri prices are expected to cool off from highs of the second quarter this fiscal (FY23), Naveen Kulkarni, Chief Investment Officer, Axis Securities said in his post market note. 

Metals also did well after Chinese regulators eased financing for property developers, a move expected to boost demand for metals, Kulkarni added.  

“We expect Nifty50 to remain range bound in the near term but expect the broad markets to outperform as we believe that small and midcaps can catch up some part of their recent underperformance to large caps,” The Chief Investment Officer at Axis Securities also stated. 

He advised, “Investments in the current environment should be stock specific, where investors should focus on good quality stocks with strong business models available at reasonable valuations.” 

Technically, the overall structure is still bullish, but some fatigue is visible as the market is not getting support from global markets, Santosh Meena, Head of Research, Swastika Investmart said in a note. 

He further said that the December series started on a heavy note, as we have seen a healthy rollover with a Nifty futures premium of more than 130 points and added, long positions in index futures by FIIs are also at a 2-year high.  

Therefore, the market is overbought on the derivative front, and it may consolidate or witness some correction before resuming its bullish momentum, the market analyst recommended.